GPU or CPU upgrade?

[Dahita]

If you are aiming 5800x3d, then CPU first.
Make sure your update your motherboard bios before the upgrade.

Agreed, go for the 58003D first. I would have said go for the graph card but five reasons to go CPU first:

1- The 5800x3D will max your CPU options out for your MB, so that's out of the way for the next step. I would even consider upgrading RAM to 32GB DDR4 4600 for $89 for fully maxed out system
2- The 5800x3D is $299 right now, roughly $400 for CPU + RAM. No graphic card is interesting below $700 imo
3- The graphic cards options are not really interesting in general this generation (4700Ti too low on VRAM, 7900XT not good for RT, 4080 too expensive for 16GB)
4- You WILL HAVE TO upgrade your CPU to get the best out of your mobo eventually, and there will not be other options but the 5800x3D. However, there will be much better options for graph card end of next year / early 2025
5- You can play all games maxed out with a 2800 and a 5800x3D in HD, that should be enough with DLSS to be decent in 1440p.

This way, you get a nice +30%/%40 gain (see link below) while waiting a year of so for the next gen graph card and have a futureproof computer for the next 5 years +.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review - The Magic of 3D V-Cache

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the company's new flagship gaming processor. It introduces 3D V-Cache, a dedicated piece of silicon with additional L3 capacity. In our review, we're testing how much the larger cache can help intensive gaming workloads and applications and compare it to the Intel Core...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Deleted member 229121]

Pricing could be with be gift cards, I got mine for $420 after tax that way.
Shout-out to Amazon for letting me use store cred to buy Best Buy store cred lol.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Pricing could be with be gift cards, I got mine for $420 after tax that way.
Shout-out to Amazon for letting me use store cred to buy Best Buy store cred lol.

That's true I did only spend about $300 out of pocket for my 4090 but still even if he has $100-200 in giftcards you're still technically spending $600-700 for the card.

 

[Macro Device]

about $300 out of pocket for my 4090

Eh. No way I'm getting a 4090 cheaper than 2 grand here. Unless I steal it but it's kinda illegal.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Eh. No way I'm getting a 4090 cheaper than 2 grand here. Unless I steal it but it's kinda illegal.

I had $1000 in giftcards and got $450 for my strix 2080ti, 4090 was like 1800 after tax so not far off.

Off topic though

The OP can't go wrong with either the 5800X3D is a nice cpu but as others have said the gpu especially 4070 ish would be more impactful especially at 1440p.

I think if the op waits till nextgen cards come out likely late 2024/early 2025 he will have a similar conundrum, buy a highly discounted rdna3 gpu or an overpriced current generation 5000/8000 series gpu.

 

[Dahita]

(6) GPU Scaling Benchmark: Ryzen 5 2600 vs. Ryzen 5 3600 - YouTube

^ this can help.

View attachment 310502

In the 4 game average here - you will go from 93/113 to 99/120 with a new CPU or 103/134 with a new GPU and be a bit bottlenecked. So the original recommendation stands -- a new GPU will get you more performance but that CPU does need to get a bump soon as well, and will gimp your new GPU quite a bit.

Waiting to build a new rig or until you can bump both can also make sense. If I had to pick just one it would be GPU knowing it's being held back, but a CPU upgrade will also be a noticeable improvement.

That being said, a 5600x3d is $229 right now, $/FPS you may be better off with the CPU upgrade since any decent GPU uplift is going to be in the $400 range.

TLDR.
Budget $350 or under - If I $350 MAX burning a hole in my pocket right now, the part that will last the longest (another GPU upgrade) is the CPU, go for the 5800x3d and don't look back, and it will give you a noticeable bump.... for $350 you're not going to get a huge boost in FPS over the 2080 anyways.

BUDGET $450+ - here you can upgrade the GPU - something like the RX 6800 will give you a big performance uplift, bigger than the CPU upgrade, even with the 3600 bottleneck.

These are not the CPUs we're talking about here. We're talking about the Ryzen 3600 vs 5800x3D. They are worlds apart.

 

[A&P211]

What country do you live in?

 

[phanbuey]

These are not the CPUs we're talking about here. We're talking about the Ryzen 3600 vs 5800x3D. They are worlds apart.

Not when you’re gpu bound with an 8gb card.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

I disagree, go with a used 3080 6800/XT first, they're still very powerful especially for 1440p. Later you can either go a new platform or upgrade to a 5800X3D.

For more info, check the review of the 5700X here, all CPUs are paired with a 3080, there isn't huge difference between the CPUs at 1440p.

 

[JimmiDK]

It seems there a many opinions on my question, which indicate that i'm not completly off finding it hard to choose what to do.

Im leaning a bit to getting the CPU now and wait and see what the next gen GPU will bring, and then get one of those, or get a RTX4000/RX7000 card at a discount or used. If my 2080 won't make the cut another year, i'm guessing i'm stuck playing last years games, until i can afford a new GPU

Another thing that might make buying the CPU now a better choice, is that junior can get my 3600 and swap it with his old 1600X, thou he mostly plays Roblox and Minecraft.

What country do you live in?

In Denmark, Europe. The price here is a bit crazy vs. US. A used 3080 cost almost the same as a new 4070, making it a no go imo. (missing out on DLSS 3 and FG). The 6800XT is about 50-60$ less than the 4070 for a new, and it is hard finding a 6800XT used (might be for a good reason).

 

[GreiverBlade]

i have a R5 3600, i play at 1440p (actually 1620p) ... i have a RX 6700 XT and it doesn't feel much held back by the 3600 at that resolution ...

my vote : GPU, depending on the pricing ... you could also check on the RX 6700 XT or 6800/6900
i am starting to see RX 6900 XT quite cheap locally .. to the point that i could almost be tempted and that one would be quite good even opposed to a 4070

oh, okay ... Denmark is even worse than Switzerland then ... (that or the 4070 is way cheaper and cost like a 6800XT for me ....)

also depending on the price on a 6700/6800 XT ... you could eventually get a 5800X3D sooner

My question would be how is he getting a 4070 for 350-400 and if he is getting it at that price buy it yesterday.....

400 for a 4070??? ... oh that must be nice for me theat's the price of the 4060/4060 Ti (bottom barrel 4070 is 600chf/$ )

 

[Eskimonster]

Hejsa du . I would buy the 5800X3D now, and wait until black friday in november to buy the GPU.

 

[N/A]

5800 X3D is just for bragging rights. I wouldn't invest in this platform if I were you. just start from scratch. RX 7700 is coming soon and you can now get a Ryzen 7700X for the same price as a 5800X3D and together for 650. 4070 will drop to 399 at some point so you are losing 199 right now and if you combine the saved 350 and 650 next year you can get RTX 5080 but at this point if you kept 3600 it's still good if you get 99 FPS.

 

[Dahita]

Not when you’re gpu bound with an 8gb card.

What an interesting theory! I don't mean to be rude, but that logic makes no sense whatsoever.

First because very few games hit over 8Gb of VRAM in 1440p currently. Secondly because you're talking about CPUs that are on different leagues.

I don't disagree with the logic of saying a better card will give him more FPS. I'm only pointing out your graph isn't comparing the same CPUs, so it doesn't give a good representation of the benefits vs the cost (less than $300). The graphic card market sucks right now regarding prices, so he might be better off upgrading what is a sure value while waiting for a better GC to come out.

 

[Eskimonster]

5800 X3D is just for bragging rights. I wouldn't invest in this platform if I were you. just start from scratch. RX 7700 is coming soon and you can now get a Ryzen 7700X for the same price as a 5800X3D and together for 650. 4070 will drop to 399 at some point so you are losing 199 right now and if you combine the saved 350 and 650 next year you can get RTX 5080 but at this point if you kept 3600 it's still good if you get 99 FPS.

OP is would be upgrading his setup, not investing from scratch. no one should invest in AM4 unless they are upgrading a current setup ofc. And this is defo not stupid in anyway.

 

[AusWolf]

I'd get the 5800X3D for now, and think about a new GPU later. The 2080 is still plenty fast, imo.

 

[phanbuey]

What an interesting theory! I don't mean to be rude, but that logic makes no sense whatsoever.

First because very few games hit over 8Gb of VRAM in 1440p currently. Secondly because you're talking about CPUs that are on different leagues.

I don't disagree with the logic of saying a better card will give him more FPS. I'm only pointing out your graph isn't comparing the same CPUs, so it doesn't give a good representation of the benefits vs the cost (less than $300). The graphic card market sucks right now regarding prices, so he might be better off upgrading what is a sure value while waiting for a better GC to come out.

So provide a better graph.

 

[AusWolf]

5800 X3D is just for bragging rights. I wouldn't invest in this platform if I were you. just start from scratch. RX 7700 is coming soon and you can now get a Ryzen 7700X for the same price as a 5800X3D and together for 650. 4070 will drop to 399 at some point so you are losing 199 right now and if you combine the saved 350 and 650 next year you can get RTX 5080 but at this point if you kept 3600 it's still good if you get 99 FPS.

I disagree. The 5800X3D is about as fast in games as a 7700(X) without the cost of upgrading the whole platform. Later, when the 5800X3D isn't good enough anymore, OP can buy into a better platform than today.

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

A GPU upgrade would give you big performance gains, the 3600 is still a capable cpu, it should run you fine until new AMD cpus

 

[phanbuey]

It seems there a many opinions on my question, which indicate that i'm not completly off finding it hard to choose what to do.

Im leaning a bit to getting the CPU now and wait and see what the next gen GPU will bring, and then get one of those, or get a RTX4000/RX7000 card at a discount or used. If my 2080 won't make the cut another year, i'm guessing i'm stuck playing last years games, until i can afford a new GPU

Another thing that might make buying the CPU now a better choice, is that junior can get my 3600 and swap it with his old 1600X, thou he mostly plays Roblox and Minecraft.


In Denmark, Europe. The price here is a bit crazy vs. US. A used 3080 cost almost the same as a new 4070, making it a no go imo. (missing out on DLSS 3 and FG). The 6800XT is about 50-60$ less than the 4070 for a new, and it is hard finding a 6800XT used (might be for a good reason).

That's a good plan. Makes alot of sense, especially given the pricing of the new cards right now. that 5800x3d will be a great pairing for a 4070ti/4080/5070 or AMD equivalent when the time comes. The 2080 is still a good card, especially with DLSS 2 at 1440P you have quite a bit of life left in it.

Can you post some before and after benchmarks between some of your games? (for science!)

 

[JustBenching]

Hi, i'm having a RTX 2080 with a Ryzen 3600 that i wan't to upgrade.

But i'm struggling to find out if i should upgrade the GPU or the CPU? (Can't do both atm) I do mostly gaming.

The GPU i have in mind is the RTX 4070 or RX 7800XT (if it is any good/ reasonably priced). Or should i wait until next gen GPU comes, and this time around upgrade my CPU to a 5800X3D?

I know the 5800X3D will be held back by my 2080, but the plan is to upgrade both in the future, so the question is more like, upgrade GPU now and get CPU in about a year or so, or CPU now and wait for next gen GPU until like 2025?

Thanks.

Upgrading your 3600 to the 5800x 3d will give you close to 0% performance increase. Upgrading your gpu will net you better results. With that said, even a 5600x CAN bottleneck a 4070, so your 3600 will bottleneck it a bit in some games, but it will be fine.

 

[phanbuey]

Upgrading your 3600 to the 5800x 3d will give you close to 0% performance increase. Upgrading your gpu will net you better results. With that said, even a 5600x CAN bottleneck a 4070, so your 3600 will bottleneck it a bit in some games, but it will be fine.

if the 9900K nets a ~5-6% increase over a 3600 at 1440P with a 2070 Super, then the 5800X3D should net 8-10% on a 2080 - it's not much but it's not 0.

Also his budget is $350-$400, so the amount of GPU power that will buy you over the 2080 is not going to be significant either.

 

[mouacyk]

What is your goal?
More FPS:
-> currently CPU-limited, upgrade CPU.
-> currently GPU-limited, upgrade GPU.
More image fidelity (higher res, settings)
-> CPU-limited, upgrade both
-> GPU-limited, upgrade GPU

 

[JustBenching]

View attachment 310630

if the 9900K nets a ~5-6% increase over a 3600 at 1440P with a 2070 Super, then the 5800X3D should net 8-10% on a 2080 - it's not much but it's not 0.

Also his budget is $350-$400, so the amount of GPU power that will buy you over the 2080 is not going to be significant either.

That is I assume an old benchmark, right? In newer games the 2080 struggles a lot at 1440p.

 

[phanbuey]

That is I assume an old benchmark, right? In newer games the 2080 struggles a lot at 1440p.

yeah it's hard to find 2xxx series benchies that are newer.